06 Dec 2011

Ellery Queen at Space O'NewWall, Seoul

Ellery Queen: The Finishing Stroke
8 December 2011 – 8 January 2012

Curated by Hyunjoo Byeon
Suppoerted by Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Arts Council Korea, Space O'NewWall

Space O'NewWall is pleased to present Ellery Queen: The Finishing Stroke, the artist's first solo exhibition in Seoul. Ellery Queen is one of the most renowned contemporary artists and has attracted considerable attention in the international art world throughout his career over 20 years.

Ellery Queen investigates the transformation and circulation of ideas, situating his interest in transferring his real life experience into the context of art. Encompassing a variety of forms such as installation, painting, photograph and publication, Queen's work examines the way in which art is rendered visible through the mechanism of institution and his interventions and gestures that refer art histories expose and scrutinize the art world.

Born in 1963, UK, Ellery Queen's work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows around the world, including Cohen Gallery, New York (1991); ICA, London (1994); Camden Arts Centre, London (1995); Wrightsville! New Art From London, Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis (1995); Sensations, Royal Academy of Art, London (1996); Galeria d'Arte Moderne, Bologna, Italy (1997); The Player on the Other Side, P.S.I, New York (1998); Museum of Contemporary Art, Warsaw (2000); New Blood, Saatchi Gallery, London (2004); Yokohama Triennale (2001/2006); Haunch of Venison, London (2008); Gwangju Biennale (2008); Venice Biennale (2003/2009); and BFI Southbank, London (2010).

While preparing for the exhibition since last year, an unexpected event occurred, leading to the absence of the artist in this exhibition. In spite of his disappearance, this exhibition continues the artist's wish to present his work to the Korean audience, thus appreciates two artists, Roisin Byrne and Bona Park, who share common interests in artistic practices with Queen, contributed to complete his exhibition. Their participation in this exhibition also represents Queen's idiosyncrasy and flexible attitude towards circulating and sharing ideas. Ellery Queen: The Finishing Stroke, where the traces of the artist is left evident, explores the trajectory of art through the artist's interventions in the institutional context of art and questions the meaning and the limits of the artist's gestural presence.

A catalogue containing essays by Mary Walling Blackburn, Duncan Wooldridge and the interviews with Ellery Queen will be published.


Space O'NewWall
Space O'NewWall is a new concept gallery in Seoul, opened in June 2011. O'NewWall means 'May and/or June' which implies midsummer in Korean. It also means 'Son of New Wall' in Irish. As the name of the gallery represents, Space O'NewWall aims at constructing a new concept gallery with the passion of midsummer by a collaborative group of curators; it functions as a curatorial laboratory where genre, age, medium, nation, and era can harmonize; and it provides parallel programs along with exhibitions such as workshop, project, seminar, and screening.